Saturday, August 11, 2012

The Good News: The Rockies won another division road game with excellent pitching.

The Bad News: The Rockies won another division road game with excellent pitching, likely giving the brain surgeons in charge more motivation to keep the paired pitching system in place.

We can't win for losing around here... or something to that effect.

Winning players: Wilin Rosario, Tyler Colvin and Tyler Chatwood

It was difficult to pick one above the others, so we'll go with three tonight.

First of all, Wilin Rosario doubled twice off Tim Lincecum and had really strong at-bats all night long. But just as important to his cause were the two base runners he threw out at critical times in the game. The first came in the 1st inning after Tyler Chatwood walked Angel Pagan leading off, which really seemed to help Chatwood calm down and settle in. A big time throw and an odd decision by San Francisco.

The second came in the fifth with runners on first and third. Bruce Bochy again made an odd decision here, putting the runner in motion with Tim Lincecum at the plate. Lincecum swung-and-missed. Rosario made the strong throw to retire Brandon Crawford, ending the threat. We'll go ahead and call that the turning point as well, even with the Rockies holding a 2-0 lead, because they seemed destined to be San Francisco's inning.

Tyler Colvin had a two-hit night at the plate as well. The first was an 0-2, two-out hit that plated Wilin Rosario in the 4th. After the second hit, Colvin stole second and eventually scored on Chris Nelson's sacrifice fly. Another productive game for Mr. Colvin.

Chatwood still isn't hitting the strike zone as much as you'd like, but he worked around it with the assistance of Rosario and his ability to make good pitches. I'm still very much intrigued by his stuff and his makeup, and will look forward to his next outing, which Jim Tracy confirmed his earned with this performance.

Bullpen's Line: 4 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 2 BB, 3 K

Adam Ottavino, Matt Belisle and Rafael Betancourt got the job done out of the 'pen. Only Ottavino struggled a bit in the 7th with the back-to-back walks, but recovered to retire Brandon Crawford and pinch-hitter Buster Posey to escape.

What's Next: Afternoon baseball on Saturday with Drew Pomeranz (1-6, 4.76) taking on Matt Cain (10-5, 3.01). First pitch is scheduled for 2:05 in Denver. Who knows, the Rockies may clinch back-to-back road series wins in that one. Cancel your plans and pull up a chair!

Final Thoughts: Did you see this letter Mike Ekstrom received from Major League Baseball for violating their 'Pace of Game Regulations.' It's pretty funny. I wonder how many of these Rafael Betancourt has filed away. (Baseball Prospectus)